History of Digital watches

A digital watch shows the time as a number, rather than using hands. Digital watches date as far back as the 1830’s, in the form of a digital mechanical watch; I.e. the LeRoy & Fils of Paris. This watch had a digital readout in hours and minutes, combined with a conventional second hand. (History of Timepieces: pp14). The mechanical digital has been restricted to the same format today, in that it is the same as the ‘date’ on an analogue watch, whereby a numbered disc rotates beneath a window.

After the development of the quartz movement for a wristwatch in the 1960’s by CEH, and inspiration of the Hamilton clock used in the 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, companies began to develop the digital wristwatch.

The first was a digital watch produced in Japan (1969) by Seiko, but was later recalled due to technical issues.

The next was a Pulsar prototype, jointly developed with Hamilton Watch Company and Electro-Data in 1970. The watch was released in 1972 under the Pulsar brand and used an LED display, (Light-emitting diode). These watches needed the keeper to press a button to display the time for a few seconds, as the LED used so much power. These watches were popular (and expensive) for the next few years, and were eventually superseded by LCD, (Liquid crystal display).

In 1964, for the first time, Seiko rivaled the Swiss watch industry to become the ‘official time keeper’ of the Tokyo Olympic Games. The first person to wear an LED watch was James Bond in Live and Let Die. LED was still expensive and out of reach for most, until 1975, when Texas Instruments mass produced an LED watch inside a plastic case, with a retail of $20, a great Christmas present.

Meanwhile, LCD was continuing to be developed, as the display used less battery power and was always visible. The first 4 digit LCD display was in 1972, and the first 6 digit display (including seconds), was a Seiko in 1973.

With the mass production of digital watches, the public imagination was truly caught and the boom of the digital watch was here. The Japanese swift movement into mass production and their high quality control enabled them to drive the digital revolution forward.

From the 1980’s, technology vastly improved with digital watches having built in TV screens, thermometers, and calculators to name but a few. Today digital watches have moved away from being technology laden, to more simple and less expensive watches, and even a more retro ‘cool’. Digital watches are still used as ‘timekeeping’ watches today, due to their accuracy and ease of reading.

However, in 1976 a gentleman called Berj Terzian founded Equitime Inc. He was later introduced to Fredi Brodmann, a designer, and together they developed a second prototype digital watch called the Quadtec.

Quadtec unveiled a fascinating new world of time keeping, based on the principle of digital time – analogue motion. In Quadtec, each hour is stationed in the centre of the watch display and 15minute quadrants of time travel around the hour, from right to left – just like a conventional analogue. There are 3 variations. 1/ minutes past the hour for the first half followed by remaining minutes until the next hour in the second half. 2/ OR you can choose to display minutes past the hour for the entire hour. 3/ and finally, traditionalists can have normal digital time.

Quadtec watches are ‘cool’ – thick casings, large in size with a great selection of straps available. So if it is a mechanical digital (Angular Momentum), or a 21st century digital (Quadtec) you desire, the BIG Watch Company have both to suit your needs.

Kind regards

Rob